D12 concert review. September the 17th, 2004, Paris Elysée Montmartre

After waiting for hours in the crowd under a very hot and burning sun, it is a real pleasure when you manage to be placed in the first row, just in front of the stage.

The first part of the show was a real surprise for most of us. It had been rumored that Slum Village would be touring with D12. Some last minute changes must have taken place for the first part of the show. French hip hop star Slay from Saian Supa Crew and his DJ introduced and animated the show with some pure sound exploits. A heavy sound demonstration welcomed the public.
But after a while many people in the crowd were very eager to see D12 act on stage and very soon Slay had no other choice than giving us a vocal interpretation of « Shit On You ». I liked his sense of humor, because he perfectly understood the crowd’s eagerness to see D12 show up on stage.

The atmosphere started to get really hot when the D12 crew entered. The 5 members (yes I know the « lead singer » was missing) got a warm ovation from a very enthusiastic public
The first to enter were Kuniva and Kon Artis, followed by the well known lyrical bomber Swifty.
The first songs to be played were « Shit Can Happen » and « Pistol Pistol ».
We had the great chance to see D12 perform some classics from « Devil’s Night » like Purple Pills, Fight Music and Pimp Like Me and even the well known « Under The Influence » from the Marshall Mathers LP. I happened to cross Swifty’s glance several times during the show while singing along.
The CD replaced Eminem’s voice where he was supposed to sing.
The purpose of the show was to fully appreciate the D12 emcees for their talent and their great sense of humor. Bizarre had a funny and colorful disguise.
The more touching discourse was Proof addressing to us fans and I would really like to give credit to him for the nice words he told us. He said that we D12 fans are among the realest fans and he is so right about it. He gave us lots of love and got a lot in return too. Derty Harry also cheered up with us, swallowing some Champaign on stage.
Before the « 40 oz » song started, it was funny to see the crowd encouraging Bizarre to guzzle his beer which he did very fast.
I dare joking in the middle of the show and shouting: « Where’s the lead singer of the band? »
I don’t know if my words were heard, but several minutes later, Bizarre introduced himself as the new « lead singer of the band » and we were encouraged to sing the chorus of « My Band ». It was wonderful to see the complicity that united us with the rappers. The show was entertaining and funny: Proof even thrower some water on Kon Artis while he was rapping.
Derty Harry and his fellows also announced their solo and common projects: the movie entitled « Runyon Cash has been confirmed, as well as Bizarre’s future solo album and of course it has been talked about both of Proof’s solo albums.
Other songs like « U R The One » and « D12 World » have also been performed with the public’s enthusiastic participation.
The concert closed with the great « How Come » song.

What else could I say about the D12 show in Paris?

The weak points of the show are following: there was a time schedule default.
Too much time has been lost on the first part of the show that obviously wasn’t programmed. Not all of the songs of D12 World have been played because of the lack of time which is certainly a weakness for a promotion tour.

Besides that, it was great, entertaining and the 5 D12 emcees gave the best of themselves in front of a warm and enthusiastic public. Of course, we all missed Eminem.
But I think people had also the opportunity to appreciate the D12 emcees for themselves and to prove Marshall wrong: yes, we know the names of the other D12 members and we fully appreciate their talent.
We also wish them back to Paris as soon as possible.